Rockets rout Kings

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Houston Rockets started a busy stretch
of basketball with a 107-96, come-from-behind victory over the
struggling Sacramento Kings on Friday night at Toyota Center.

In the first of a four-games-in-five-nights stretch, the Rockets
(17-9) shrugged off a slow start to win their sixth straight
home game to improve to 9-3 here.

Yao Ming and Luis Scola led the Rockets with 30 and 23 points,
respectively, and Tracy McGrady and Aaron Brooks chipped in with
18 and 10, respectively.

McGrady also had a game-high eight assists for the Rockets, who
will play the Timberwolves in Minneapolis on Saturday before
traveling to New Jersey and Cleveland on Monday and Tuesday.

John Salmons scored 26 points for Sacramento, which fell to 7-20
overall and lost its fifth straight road game. Bobby Jackson
scored 19 points off the bench, while Brad Miller and Francisco
Garcia added 17 and 14 points, respectively.

"I think that collectively as a team we have to sustain that
defensive mentality that we had in the second half of the ball
game," McGrady said. "(In) the first half, they shot a high
percentage.

"They got any shot that they wanted. They only scored 41 points
in the second half, so it is a matter of us pulling it together
for 48 minutes instead of 24."

The Kings came out firing in the first half, and the worst
3-point shooting team in the NBA raced out to a 51-40 lead in
the first 18 minutes behind Salmons and Jackson, who combined
for 28 points.

But Houston called a timeout after Jackson gave the Kings an
11-point lead after hitting his second 3-pointer with 5:44 left
in the half. Whatever the Rockets talked about worked, as they
held the Kings to just one field goal for the rest of the second
quarter.

"We were able to come back and tie it at halftime but we've got
to play 48 minutes defensively, and you have to give them
credit, but we've just got to be better than that, especially if
we are going to try to win on the road."

"We were our own worst enemy with our turnovers," Sacramento
interim head coach Kenny Natt said. "Houston was a monster on
the boards, and you have to give them credit for the win."

Playing well defensively, the Rockets went on a 14-2 run and
took a 55-53 lead with 39 seconds left in the half, when Scola
capped his 12-point first half with a 12-foot jumper.

The Rockets used a 13-4 run in the final 4:49 of the third
quarter to take an 82-73 lead after three periods.

"I think we are a solid team but, if we don't play defense, then
it is going to be hard against anybody," Scola said. "We know
that we have to play good defense no matter who we are playing
against."

The Kings rallied in the fourth quarter to get within six, but
the Rockets - led by Yao - put the game away with several big
rebounds.

"It's just frustrating," said Salmons, who made his first eight
shots of the game. "We were moving the ball (in the first
half), and we were getting it to the open man. That's the way
the game is supposed to flow. We just haven't been a consistent
team this year."